The molecular mechanisms regulating the accuracy of gene expression are still not fully understood. Among these mechanisms, Nonsense-mediated Decay (NMD) is a quality control process that detects post-transcriptionally abnormal transcripts and leads them to degradation. The UPF1 protein lays at the heart of NMD as shown by several structural and functional features reported for this factor main...

Ustilaginales is also known as smut fungi are a vast and diverse group of that cause disease in crops causing huge losses worldwide. They belong to the class Ustilaginomycetes. Several members this serve valuable models for unraveling fundamental mechanisms controlling important biological processes. plant pathogenic species ustilaginales human infections. A brief description given genera conta...

Landaeta M, et al. BMJ Case Rep 2017. doi:10.1136/bcr-2017-221591 Description A 69-year-old man with invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. Three years later, a right upper lobe (RUL) lung mass was noted on surveillance imaging, suspicious for disease recurrence. He was treated for bronchitis and remained asymptomatic 4 months late...

Chemokines are small proteins (7-16kDa) that act at G protein-coupled receptors to regulate a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes1,2). The human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 (HIV-1) principally uses CCR5 and CXCR4 chemokine receptors as coreceptors with CD4 to gain entry into target cells3,4). Therefore, a molecule that binds to the CCR5 receptor could potentially prevent...

The biotrophic basidiomycete fungus Ustilago maydis causes smut disease in maize. Hallmarks of the disease are large tumors that develop on all aerial parts of the host in which dark pigmented teliospores are formed. We have identified a member of the WOPR family of transcription factors, Ros1, as major regulator of spore formation in U. maydis. ros1 expression is induced only late during infec...

It is widely accepted that MAPK activation in budding and fission yeasts is often associated with negative effects on cell cycle progression, resulting in delay or arrest at a specific stage in the cell cycle, thereby enabling cells to adapt to changing environmental conditions. For instance, activation of the Cell Wall Integrity (CWI) pathway in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae signa...

We report the rare case of a 19-year-old immunocompetent male suffering both from fungus balls of the sinuses and from chronic rhinosinusitis with massive polyposis. Endoscopic sinus surgery revealed grayish brown necrotic masses embedded in viscous eosinophilic mucus. Inoculated onto petri dishes, these masses as well as the mucus grew a dark pigmented fungus, which was identified as Bipolaris...

Caspofungin inhibits synthesis of beta-D-1,3 glucan, essential to cell walls in Candida and Aspergillus spp., but activity against less common molds is largely uncharacterized. We demonstrate that caspofungin inhibits beta-D-1,3 glucan synthesis and reduces in vitro growth of clinical isolates from the genera Alternaria, Curvularia, Scedosporium, Acremonium, Bipolaris, and Trichoderma.